May 1, 2009 Volume 110 Number 9
Fred Meyer remodels nonunion, stymies UFCW in The DallesFred
Meyer, at one time a reliable employer of union labor, has been using
nonunion contractors in remodeling projects at Portland-area stores.
Meanwhile, some workers on the inside — represented by United
Food and Commercial Workers Local 555 — are having trouble getting
a first union contract.
Parent company Kroger has continued to be profitable during the recession,
even paying dividends. But it is cutting corners when it comes to
a store-by-store remodeling project, say local building trades union
representatives. Fred Meyer merged with Cincinnati-headquartered Kroger
in 1999.
“We don’t even have a chance to bid,” said Bob Childers,
an international representative of the Operative Plasterers and Cement
Masons International Association.
Members of Portland-based Cement Masons Local 555 would have had lots
of work on the remodels: The company is moving from linoleum tile
to polished concrete, with as many as 250 locations slated for remodel.
The work involves removing tile and adhesive, grinding concrete, adding
densifier, and finishing with fine-grain sanding and staining. But
Kroger signed a nationwide re-flooring deal with a nonunion contractor
that is using $12-an-hour Craigslist recruits, Childers said. The
going rate for union members to do that work would have been $30 an
hour plus $13 an hour in benefits.
OPCMIA top leadership met in Cincinnati with Kroger and offered a
break on the union rate, but didn’t come away with a deal.
The shut-out burns local cement masons, Childers says, because the
union’s health and welfare trust contracts with Kroger as a
pharmacy benefit manager. Union members get a deal on prescription
drugs, but agree to buy them only at Fred Meyer pharmacies (where,
incidentally, pharmacists are also union-represented.)
“They’ve got union health trust money going in their door,
and they turn around and hire nonunion contractors that don’t
even provide health benefits to their workers,” said John Mohlis,
executive secretary-treasurer of the Columbia Pacific Building and
Construction Trades Council.
To deliver that message, Mohlis joined Tim Foster and Clif Davis of
Electrical Workers Local 48 at a March 18 meeting with several Kroger
representatives — one local manager in charge of construction
and a Kroger official from Cincinnati from the pharmacy benefit management
division.
“Every hour one of our members works is money in Fred Meyer’s
pocket, so I don’t understand why they’re not using us,”
said Foster, who is assistant business manager at Local 48.
Through the union-affiliated Harrison Health and Welfare Trust, Local
48 members spent almost $800,000 last year at Fred Meyer pharmacies,
but union electrical contractors aren’t being considered for
work on the remodel. Foster said union-signatory contractors bid on
10 large remodeling projects, even using union market recovery funds
to lower the cost of the bids, and nine of the 10 contracts went to
nonunion competitors at roughly half the wages and benefits.
Union electricians have done a lot of work for Fred Meyer in the past.
Angry about the shutout, several local building trades union representatives
have begun asking members not to spend money at Fred Meyer, and have
distributed fliers outside Fred Meyer stores asking the public not
to shop there.
The public is also starting to hear from United Food and Commercial
Workers Local 555. At the Fred Meyer store in The Dalles, Oregon,
where grocery workers have been union for years, a group of about
50 non-food workers voted to join the union in November 2007. They
still don’t have a union contract, even though the company has
numerous non-food contracts at other locations. Bargaining has been
going on since February 2008, and a federal mediator is now involved
in the negotiations. One sticking point is a well-established union
bottom line: “union security” i.e., whether dues will
be voluntary. Fred Meyer wants to make it an “open shop.”
So far, Local 555 has placed several ads in the Dalles Chronicle,
created a public campaign Web site, treatusfair.com, and on April
23 held a rally and march in The Dalles.
Meanwhile, Portland-area grocery, meat, and central checkout workers
at Fred Meyer, Safeway, and Albertsons have been working under extended
contracts since July 26, 2008. The grocers bargain jointly as Allied
Grocers Inc.
Negotiations were held April 28-29, but the outcome of those talks
were not available at press time. © Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc.
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